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Windows 98: the 20th Anniversary

This year is the twentieth anniversary of Windows 98, Microsoft's second operating system to be based off their 9X architecture (after Windows 95) and fifth overall (after Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0/3.1, and Windows 95). Win 98 was not as drastic as departure from previous operating systems as was its predecessor (Windows 95 was the first Windows to function independently of DOS), but it was much more streamlined and less error-prone, making it essentially a better version of Window 95 (akin to how, many years later, Windows 7 was essentially a better version of Windows Vista).

I remember Windows 98 very fondly, especially how it was smoother and easier to use than Windows 95, which had the unfortunate tendency to crash slightly too often for my liking. At that time in my life, I was in middle school, so I primarily used my computer occasionally homework but mainly for video games; at that time, the internet was still in its infancy and had not yet become a commonplace technology, and computers that did have access to it usually used dial-up, as Ethernet was still new, as well. It was always annoying when we had to choose between using our telephone line for normal telephone calls or the internet (and the dial-up sound was very annoying), so the advent of Ethernet was practically a godsend.

The first computer that I ever used was running Windows 3.1, but that was when computers were too expensive for an average household to own more than one, so it belonged to my entire family (although my father used it most often for his business). Therefore, the first computer that I had that was entirely my own (although still paid for by my parents) ran Windows 98. That was also when CRT monitors were the standard, before LCDs became commonplace, and I do not miss their bulky size or incredible weight, nor do I miss the floppy disks that were most often used for data storage, as they ran out of space far too quickly; CDs were a welcome successor to that technology.

One of my favorite aspects of Windows 98 was its iconic startup sound, which I never grew tired of hearing whenever I started up my computer, and, unlike many users, I actually liked the office assistant in the early versions of Microsoft Office.

What does everyone else say about this? What do you have the say about the 20th anniversary of Windows 98?

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." -Thomas Jefferson.

"Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither." -Benjamin Franklin

Re: Windows 98: the 20th Anniversary

Windows 98 was monumental to me for one reason: Games did not crash nearly as much. You could actually finish levels without a reboot.

It was really funny that it would not work with ISDN connections either. I was working at SGI at the time and they installed a dual ISDN line at my home for me to be able to access the network to fix problems. I had to use my SGI Indy as a switch in order to connect.